A bid for an inquiry into the collapse of Solid Energy has been voted down by the commerce select committee.

Damien O'Connor, the Labour MP for West Coast, tabled draft terms of reference which would have looked into the company's activities back to 1998, to cover the former Labour Government's time in office.

However the proposal was voted down by the National Party majority on the committee.

Clayton Cosgrove, Labour's state owned enterprises spokesman said: "The National Party have decided they want to sweep this under the carpet, with job losses, with hundreds of millions [of dollars] of losses going down the toilet, and that's good enough for them."

Jonathan Young, the National MP for New Plymouth and committee chairman, did not attend the meeting, and was replaced by party colleague Todd McClay.

Young had earlier said he was not convinced there needed to be an inquiry.